When populating a list of the most polarizing personalities in the greater country music world, right near the top would be Eric Church, who has made a career of not shying away from controversy, but careening straight into it, and Shooter Jennings, the son of Waylon whose unusual approach both on and off the stage has won him devout followers and fierce critics.

Though the two artists don’t have any direct affiliations and have never really crossed paths in any significant manner, over the past year, the way their music has been promoted to the public from their respective albums has been very, very similar.

It was the very first thought that entered my head in mid October of 2013 when seeing Eric Church’s first teaser video for his album The Outsiders, set for release on Feb. 11th. The use of a teaser video itself was the initial tipoff. Not that Shooter Jennings was the very first to use teaser videos like he did in the run up to the release of his album The Other Life in early 2013, but the practice has been quite rare, especially in country music. And that was just the very beginning. So many other things that have transpired in Eric Church’s The Outsiders release that so closely parallel the release of Shooter’s The Other Life, that even if it is not purposeful or a “ripoff”, it is remarkable enough to point out nonetheless.

In fairness, even though Eric Church is the man whose name is on The Outsiders publicity material, it is not him alone, if him at all, but filmmakers and other production crew members that are helping him put The Outsiders roll out together, just as Shooter Jennings had a filmmaker named Blake Judd helping him with his project. But the similarities can’t be denied. Let’s take a look at them:

1. The Video Concept

The roll out for Shooter’s The Other Life album was supported by a short film by filmmaker Blake Judd of Judd Films. Teaser videos for the album, and full music videos for some of the songs were pulled from The Other Life film for promotional purposes.

As Shooter Jennings explained to baeblemusic.com, his label Entertainment One was willing to give him a video budget for the album “because they felt like it was more effective to create content … which I totally agree with … [rather than] you know, promoting stuff by just throwing money at radio or whatever.” So instead of making specific videos for individual songs from the album, Shooter and his team decided to make a short film that videos for the songs could be taken from.

The story and film snippets from The Other Life were purposely vague to create attention and intrigue in the project, and hinted to a deeper storyline that would eventually resolve when the full movie and a comic book was revealed. “…so we’re looking at it and we’re like ‘This thing is weird, but it’s cool,'” said Shooter at the time. “We’re sort of unveiling each part of it in a way, but it ends up tying all together very nicely…I think that when you see the whole thing it’s gonna make a little more sense.”

When it came to the roll out of Eric Church’s The Outsiders eight months later, almost the same exact video concept was employed to promote the album, with vague, ambiguous plot lines to create intrigue and hint to a larger narrative, which would eventually resolve once all the videos and the album were released.

“We’ve conceived and conceptualized what these videos are gonna be,” Eric Church told The Boot on January 29th, 2014. “There’s a storyline, so basically everybody you see…all the characters, they each have a story line and they all relate to each other… And we wanted it to be this big mystery, level of intrigue, that just was fun for fans that we could have this thing of trying to figure it out and looking at where clues were.”

2. The Teaser Videos

Both album roll outs used “teaser” videos ahead of the release—short, purposely-incomplete content meant to create interest in the project. Check out the first two teaser videos from the two respective projects: Shooter’s that was released on Jan 1st, 2013, and Eric Church’s that was released on October 13, 2013. Notice the primary elements of both teasers is a vague, disconnected story hinting to a larger narrative, with a dark, surreal vibe. Also notice that the coloring of both videos is very similar—darker, grayscale and sepia tones—and how both teaser videos conclude in a hard cut to black.

3. The Music Videos

After the first round of teaser videos, both Eric Church and Shooter Jennings released full-length music videos ahead of their albums. Shooter released his first video on March 9th, 2013, and Eric released his first on November 1st, 2013. In the two videos below, notice once again how they both have vague, disconnected story lines hinting to a larger narrative to be resolved in the future.

“The eerie resemblance to what Shooter and I created for ‘The Other Life’ campaign is most definitely there,” says filmmaker Blake Judd. “The idea of the teaser trailer and a short film/continual music video series we proudly worked on does seem to have a lot of parallels to what Church is doing. Maybe someone in his camp had this vision and they ran with it or maybe it was Church himself. And maybe they tried to emulate what we did and maybe not. Regardless of it all, the idea of a cross platform campaign; record, film, comic, print, VHS and digital release was something we’d never seen before, and Shooter and I are very proud of it.”

For Eric Church’s part, he told The Boot about the vagueness in his videos, “I don’t understand it either.”

4. The Name “The Outsiders”

The similarities with the video campaigns is one thing, and could be open to many different points-of-view and interpretations, especially depending on how one’s allegiances fall with the two artists. But the naming of the two albums is where the similarity between The Outsiders and The Other Life gets especially strange.

“The Outsiders” is not just the album title and the name of Eric’s lead single, it’s the cohesive theme of the entire Eric Church record and roll out. Interestingly enough, on Shooter’s album The Other Life, there is also a song called “The Outsider.” But it goes even deeper than that.

Originally, Shooter’s The Other Life album was going to be called The Outsider.

In an interview with The Boot on March 19th, 2013, Shooter said, “At first we were going to call [the album] ‘The Outsider’, but once we got into the film we thought, ‘Well, it’s like a mirror, a dark mirror of what ‘Family Man’ was.'”An interview with Shooter Jennings three days later with Rolling Stone starts off with the sentence, “Shooter Jennings may be known for his status spearheading all things outsider in the music world…”

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It is also important to note that previously Eric Church has been accused of mimicking the T-shirt designs and concepts from another independent country music artist, Hank Williams III or Hank3. Interestingly enough, Hank3 once accused Shooter Jennings of stealing his concept and persona when Shooter came out with his first album Put The ‘O’ Back in Country that was very similar to the lyrics of the Hank3 song “Dick In Dixie”.

Also, in August of 2011, Shooter Jennings released a song called “Outlaw You,” calling out the new Outlaws of country, of which Eric Church is considered a part of. Though Shooter Jennings has never said directly that the song was written about Eric Church, he alluded this to Saving Country Music around the release of “Outlaw You.” Even though the song was first released in 2011, it wasn’t until 2013 on Shooter’s album The Other Life that the song was released on an record.

Should Eric Church be accused of ripping off Shooter Jennings? That may be a little harsh. As stated above, Church’s involvement in the video aspect of his album may be limited, and it isn’t as if Shooter Jennings is the first to use a linear video campaign. But what is for sure is that Eric Church’s “The Outsiders” concept is certainly not as novel and original as they would like to have you believe.

This pretty much sums it up. Church is trying to sell his image as much or more than his music, which is a shame because he’s written some decent stuff. And he comes across as a poser doing it.

Whether he is blatantly compying Shooters marketing stuff is a stretch and just conjecture, really. If you listen to him talk about marketing and social media, he seems to be a pretty off hands kinda guy. Now his label on the other hand, trigger might have a good argument.

My first thought was that maybe Eric — or more likely, someone in his camp — could be a Shooter fan. It wouldn’t surprise me if he and/or his crew liked what Shooter was doing on the fringes, thought it looked cool and wanted to try bringing it (or something similar) to the mainstream.

On the other hand, while it’s admirable that wants to differentiate himself from bro-country, why not let the music speak for itself?

(P.S.: I finally bit the bullet and checked out the title cut of ‘The Outsiders’ — for some reason, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Earl Dibbles Jr.’s “Country Boy Song.” 😀 )

Eerie similarities are always tough. I don’t know what to think, but I’m not really sure I care, either.

The NPR stream is proving quite interesting, as in the songs are providing some nice surprises. This is easily his most interesting guitar/instrumental record so far. Then again, that’s always been an underrated aspect of his music. He definitely wasn’t lying when he said they weren’t worried about genre.

Eh. Take a listen. I have a feeling you’ll have plenty to say about it, haha.

The NPR stream is inconsequential to the topic broached here aside from being an unfortunate distraction. I knew this would happen when I saw NPR had posted it, and on cue, y’all haven’t disappointed. There is a very real issue and history with Eric Church specifically taking the ideas and even the identity themes of independent artists and incorporating them into his persona and branding so as to re-integrate disenfranchised fans back into the fold of the Music Row industrial complex. That is the topic here. But hey, did I see that NPR posted a stream of the album?

They posted Hurray for the Riff Raff too. I’m much more excited about that.

But it’s not a real issue to a lot of us because it’s just eerie similarities. Honestly, it’s not like it’s exact and it’s not like people take Shooter that seriously, anyway. If Eric’s promotion of his new album had been similar to a more well respected independent artist, then I’m sure it’d be a bigger issue. Shooter kind of did himself in with “Outlaw You” and “Drinking Side of Country,” don’t you think?

And who says it’s intentional, anyway? These are the kinds of things we just can’t know. Are you just looking for a bunch of Eric Church bashers to come in here and stand beside Shooter? That isn’t productive, either.

So that means he has no right to creative autonomy and someone can come along and mimic what he does, call it their own, and take the credit for being innovative? It seems to me my opinion, your opinion, or anyone elses opinion of Shooter Jennings should not weigh in on this matter whatsoever.

“Are you just looking for a bunch of Eric Church bashers to come in here and stand beside Shooter?”

This is the second comment concerning itself more with my motive than the information presented. Is it a stretch to think that my motive is to point out how strange it is that two albums that started out with the same name ended up having the same approach to how they were promoted to the public, especially when they artist has a history of borrowing themes and marketing ideas from independent country artists?

The trailers aren’t as similar as you’re alluding, aside from the colors. Completely different themes. As for the music videos, completely different subject matter, completely different songs. I don’t know what similarities you’re seeing, otherwise, and I don’t think Eric or his label stole anything. Eric is releasing an extremely strange record and his fanbase always felt like he didn’t get the recognition he deserved, hence the title. I’m just saying that I’m not going to look for what isn’t there, you know? Not trying to argue with you or derail the topic of discussion.

“I”™m just saying that I”™m not going to look for what isn”™t there, you know?”

But that’s exactly what you’re doing. Nobody ever said Eric Church was stealing anything from Shooter Jennings. Please don’t paint my position towards an extreme so that you can turn around and refute it.

“As for the music videos, completely different subject matter, completely different songs.”

Nobody ever said they were the same. Read the article. It is about approach, not about content, aside from the vagaries in the storyline hinting to a larger narrative.

Listen man, I don’t mean to berate you or talk down to you, but if you, or anyone else is going to watch one video after another and say, “Well hell, I don’t think they’re the same song,” then you’re not informed enough about this issue to make a salient, relevant point.

Is this a straight ripoff, theft, plagiarism, or copyright issue? Of course not. Nobody is saying so. Is it a marketing scheme borrowed by one artist from another in an attempt to sell an artist as an “Outsider” when really he’s more part of the Nashville machine than anyone? My argument would be “yes”.

“There is a very real issue and history with Eric Church specifically taking the ideas and even the identity themes of independent artists and incorporating them into his persona and branding so as to re-integrate disenfranchised fans back into the fold of the Music Row industrial complex. That is the topic here. ”

I am not sure I was clear on that point Trig, Perhaps I need to read the article again. I suppose it is hard to stay focus when you don’t give a rat’s butt about either artist.

Yes this album has a lot a surprises in it!!! I’m actually liking it a lot!! It’s running the gamete on genre/sounds but in this case it’s working for me. It’s absolutely nothing that “mainstream country” has given us in the past few years. In fact the whole thing is “Bro country” free! I think that this album is going to set a HIGH standard for albums early on in 2014 and I’m not sure how Bryan. Aldean, Shelton etc plan on competing with this?!?!? Very gutsy effort by Church to follow up his CHIEF record!!!!

Second, just because something isn’t “bro-country” doesn’t make it either good, or an alternative. 90% of the male country music being made right now is not bro-country either, maybe more. It just happens to be that it’s the 10% that is bro country is what is making it on to radio. There’s tons of artists making good, quality music, and just because one artist who happens to be at the top of the mainstream isn’t making bro country doesn’t mean it is automatically good. And by the way, once again, how can an artist at the very top tier of the recording industry call himself an “Outsider” and get away with it?

If you like Eric Church, great. But just because something “better” than Bryan, Aldean, and Shelton doesn’t mean it’s good, because just about anything is better than those guys.

Man I know you don’t approve of “Bro Country”, but it just fits so well (in part at least):

From the Urban Dictionary:

“Obnoxious partying males who are often seen at college parties. When they aren”™t making an ass of themselves they usually just stand around holding a red plastic cup waiting for something exciting to happen so they can scream something that demonstrates how much they enjoy partying…”

There should be an official term. Pick something out:

1) Douche Country
2) Bro Country
3) Sellout Country
4) Party Down South Country
5) Hippity Hopity Country
6) Beer & Chicks Man County
7) Thug Country
8) Dancin’ On the Ashes Country
9) Young Toots and Douchebags Country

I’ve been threatening to write a dedicated article about this for a while, but I will say this: in six months to a year, “bro country” will be considered a term of endearment by more people than a derogatory term. Trust me.

I haven’t heard the whole album yet but no matter what we call The Outsiders it’s a pop/rap/rock song, and other songs labeled “bro country” are country/pop/rap or just pop and rap. It’s not a great song either. He’s also got synthesized pop in Give Me Back My Hometown. Yeah pop and rap is nothing mainstream country has given us in the past few years. LOL Keep it country or at least country/rock.

I’m a fan of both artists,so in reality i don’t care where “The Outsider” idea came from,in reality Shooter probably has the most right to it,bein Waylon’s son. But all in all both artists have my respect.

“in reality Shooter probably has the most right to it,bein Waylon”™s son”

As opposed to…I don’t know….being first?

Eric Church’s marketing team wanted to present him as an “Outsider” or “Outlaw” to the music business, which he clearly isn’t if he is winning Album of the Year from the CMA and ACM, and so they borrowed ideas from an already-established artist considered an “Outsider” to do so.

I suppose you’re right he was first,and honestly I would go as far to say Eric Church isn’t an outlaw,outsider or whatever he calls himself. However his music has always spoke to me in a way,that i can’t explain. Shooter’s music does as well. I’ve been a fan of this site for a while now,and most of the time I agree with you. I love the music that you have introduced me too,I was raised on the classics (Conway,Loretta,Dolly,George,Johnny and others) but Eric Church outsider or not to me is one of the most honest singer-songwriters out there in Nashville today. It’s fine you don’t like him,and you’re right Country Music does need saving,but in my opinion it doesn’t need saved from Eric Church.

Well, I’ve streamed his new album in full as of this morning………………and while I can say it definitely impressed me in that Church wasn’t mincing any words when he said it would be different and that it is definitely sonically ambitious……………I nonetheless had more than one eyebrow-raising moment upon listening from a songwriting standpoint as to how unabashedly he markets the outlaw image.

Constant use of curse words on songs like “Devil Devil”? Check! Frequent references to hard liquor and drugs? Check! A song about hardcore sex> (“Like A Wrecking Ball”). Check! Polemic elements in his eight-minute monologue? Check!

Many of the songs are indeed well-written from both a lyrical and technical songwriting standpoint. However, capitulating to this outlaw machismo really hits you over the head and gets grating after a while. It can’t help but sound contrived over repeated listen. It only further provides fodder to critics, including ourselves, that he is relied on this image as a crutch……………..when he’s perfectly capable of writing strong songs on their own merit.

In whole, “The Outsiders” was certainly a better-than-average record to my ears, but it’s certainly not “country”. It’s a genre-bending effort that nods to country influences on a few tracks like “Dark Side” and “A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young”, but just as often veers toward stadium rock and, in other instances, I don’t even know what to call it. A very interesting listen, although I’m still straining to decipher all the supposed characters and discern the general arc and storyline that strings the tracks together. At any rate, I do feel “Chief” remains his most consistent album.

There you go. If you want to be perceived as an “Outsider,” but you truly aren’t one (as we all know Eric Church isn’t), what do you do? You look to someone who truly is an “Outsider” and you emulate their behavior.

These lines from “Devil Devil” confirms this is Eric Church’s approach.

“The devil walks among us folks, and Nashville is his bride.”

If Nashville is the bride, Eric Church is the groom.

This is all deceptive marketing being perpetuated on the country music public in the attempt to re-integrate disenfranchised country music fans.

I’m pretty ambivalent towards Eric Church, but if he was to bring in disenfranchised country fans back to the mainstream with his “outsider” image and songs, wouldn’t that be a good thing? Music is a business and if he sells wouldn’t that also help independent artists with the same sound? They may get a push that they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten? Also he can’t have a pop country act open for him on tour, that would undermine his whole shtick.

He did a duet with Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean last year! Eric Church is NOT and Outsider! He is a dyed-in-the-wool industry franchise artist, and all of this is marketing. “The Outsiders” is marketing, the words to his songs are marketing, and the way he’s rolling out his videos is marketing, modeled after how they saw what they perceive to be an “Outsider” artist market his album.

And NO, this would not help independent artists whatsoever, it HURST them, and much more than someone like Taylor Swift who isn’t going to appeal to an independent, hard country mindset anyway. Music Row knows that 50% or more of country music fans are not happy with the direction of the genre. So instead of losing those fans, they’re trying to re-integrate them back into the mainstream by using “Outsider” marketing with artists like Eric Church.

Dude, I’m not saying it’s not marketing. Some of my favorite artists had to do duets with lame artists. Eric Church, is in no way my favorite artist- but even Shooter did a duet with Bucky Covington! Shooter is just as image conscious as Church; it’s show business. For crying outloud, it’s not like Shooter had it rough trying to get a foot in the door in Nashville- he’s the SON of Waylon!

There was no bigger critic of Shooter doing a duet with Bucky Covington than me, and there’s no bigger critic of Shooter Jennings than me. But comments like this, “it”™s not like Shooter had it rough trying to get a foot in the door in Nashville- he”™s the SON of Waylon! “ …show me that people are taking sides in this based on taste and other ancillary factors instead of the facts.

I don’t even like Eric Church! All of a sudden I have to defend this guy? I’m not taking anyone’s side. All I was saying was Church is just as much an “outsider” as Shooter is. To me it’s all smoke and mirrors to sell records for both men; and Shooter being the son of a country music legend is a fact. When Waylon passed away he was not a hated man in Nashville, he was country music royalty like a George Jones or Willie Nelson. Shooter by default has better connections in the industry than even Luke Bryan. I never meant to imply that Shooter hasn’t earned where he is at, he just by lottery had more of an opportunity to make phone calls and asked for advice when he was first coming out. I actually saw him live on his first tour just based off the fact he was Waylon’s son. I bet a lot of folks did the same, and like me bought his album after the show. Finally, that video you posted of Shooter’s song isn’t new ground breaking art. It’s a rip off of Stanley Kubrick’s movie, “Eyes Wide Shut”.

I tend to agree with you and Trigger on this one. It’s hard to take EC seriously when he’s saying things like this. At the same time, the message gets to a wider audience, and not every mainstream country listener listens to strictly mainstream country. I know plenty of people, including myself, who love underground country artists, or alt country artists, or Texas Country artists, but because of our occupations (I farm, and most of my friends either farm or do some kind of blue collar work where their music options are limited) we have very few options when it comes to music, we end up spending some time on modern country stations. I mean, hell, I’ve found some classic country AM stations that I mostly frequent, but every now and then after hours on a tractor seat I’ve spent some time on the mainstream stations. There are some bright spots on the mainstream stations, like George Strait’s resurgence, or pop artists who aren’t trying to tell me they’re country artists (guys like Brett Eldredge or David Nail–fantastic vocalists, to say the least), so it’s not all bad, and not every pair of ears is that of a moron. Certain mainstream fans are still going to purchase The Outsiders and hear the message of songs like “Devil, Devil.” It’ll likely make no difference, but if the Nashville scene begins to turn back toward music with substance, it’ll be worth it. I’m not saying Eric Church will have caused it, but if Nashville improves, we’ll at least know that a high profile source may have contributed to it.

But it’s not going to help the underground artists directly. They’ll invariably get lost in the shuffle and, moreover, tone-deaf fans of the established artist will claim the likes of Jennings are ripping Church off! -__-

George Strait resurgence? That’s news to me. Last time I checked, “I Believe” was his lowest-peaking single to date and “I Got A Car” is limping into the Top 40. Still, I understand where that sentiment stems from given his much-publicized final tour.

I agree that David Nail is a fabulous vocalist. That said, his current single (“Whatever She’s Got”) is painfully mediocre and juvenile from a lyrical angle. Nail is MUCH better than this. As for Brett Eldredge, he strikes me as an above-average vocalist upon first impressions (kind of filling the void of James Otto, who I do miss a lot)………….but his debut album “Bring You Back” sounds so sterile as have its singles. Of course, I think it is yet another example of a label having a stranglehold over its artists, in that Eldredge clearly wanted to include other tracks he selected but were vetoed, and was even forced to re-record “One Mississippi” (which is the standout track, but nonetheless inferior to the demo version). Still, I agree I see signs of promise for both these male vocalists.

I don’t particularly love “Whatever She’s Got” when I put it next to some of his prior singles, but I’ll take David Nail singing that song over other artists who could have picked it up. As for Brett Eldredge’s album, I love the title track, but otherwise the album doesn’t go anywhere until track 9. I honestly can’t believe how well the album ends–Mean to Me, Signs (a nice co-write with Bill Anderson), Raymond (I still can’t believe this song went nowhere on the radio, considering it came out 2-3 years ago when songs like “The Call” by Matt Kennon made some noise), and Go On Without Me.

On topic of exposing independent artists–I agree, it’s not going to happen because of this, but what, exactly, is going to make that happen? The best that any of us can hope for is that we share the music we love with other people. We might make 5 or 10 more fans for some great independent/underground artist, and that’s a lot better than 0.

I am a fan of Shooter, but his most recent offering was just not good musically.

I will never know about Eric Church’s new album, though, because the CD of his that I bought a couple of years ago was so amazingly shallow and banal (think: Brantley Gilbert) that I am not buying any more of his CDs.

Waylon, Willie, DAC, Tompall, etc. were outlaws by their natures, not because it was some profitable status they were seeking to achieve and commercially exploit.

Outlaw status has become a hotly sought after objective these days, usually for artists who would never be associated with the origianl outlaws and who lack originality.

I could argue that Travis Tritt was considered an outsider when he hit big in the late 80’s (the wild child Harley rider that sounded too “rock”). Church only looks as good as he does because in only two decades main stream country has turned to pure crap. Church shouldn’t even be involved in country, he should be in the “alternative rock” genre. Anyway, here’s Tritt and a few friends doing it right to ease the pain on the Aldean/Bryan/Church video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px7yroEhTCg

Ha – I just noticed Tritt is capable of growing more hair than Aldean, Church and Luke Bryan combined!

Glad to see you being fair on this, and calling a spade a spade.I was wondering when you’d say something on this, or if you’d even touch it.

I’ve found your feud with Shooter to be a bit nauseating , especially since I love your blog and I love Shooters music. I talked to him at his show in Lakeland,FL recently, and even though i tried to get a rise out of him, he just laughed when i told him you (Triggerman) had me scared that he was going to be an a**hole…. He never said one negative thing about you…. he seemed a bit confused by the whole “vendetta” thing you’ve been portraying on here.

He said (paraphrasing here) that because of who his daddy was a lot of people have that fear of him being a spoiled and arrogant a**hole, but that he’s just a regular guy. And after spending time with Shooter and his manager, I can honestly say they are some of the most approachable and friendly people I’ve met in the business.
If you wanna get in a war with someone, attack these a**holes on music row who keep stealing other peoples concepts, lyrics, and melodies. Seems to me that you and Shooter have common enemies….

My little sister pointed out the other day that “Feel Alright” by Steve Earle & “Kerosene” by Miranda Lambert sound awfully similar…. hmmmm… this ripping off thing is just a part of the biz these days… or maybe the Nashville establishment is just running out of fresh ideas so they are starting to recycle old ones that haven’t ever belonged to them.

Interesting article Triggerman. I see the simularities in marketing but am still overwhelmed with the auto reflex to upchuck 40 plus years of ancient chewed bubblegum and pop when I hear Church’s music. I don’t blame Church’s desire to rip off Shooter’s marketing stratagey cause from what I hear of his bubblegum country…ANY direction is “UP”!

I don’t know where you get all of your information but please believe me when I say some of it is wrong!. More on that in a sec.
First, let me say that your bashing in an underlying tone toward Eric Church is pathetic and so transparent that a kid could figure out your intentions with this article.
It’s okay, go ahead and be just like you are …its your right to love n hate who you want to…nobody is gonna bash you here on my comment. I mean…I may state the real truth that can be verified just by reading your comments and the article itself but I’m not gonna make you look any worse than you already have yourself.Truth is, you are so invaluable or useless in my life and everyone elses that I’m just killing time typing this comment because I’m bored and have nothing else to do. Let me say that this is pretty much an all out attack on a man that you apparrantly know nothing about. Eric Church may not seem to be much of an Outlaw to you but I’m here to tell you that you are 100% wrong. I fell the same as some of the others have commented before me. You are paranoid. You for some reason havnt done your homework on Eric Church and you have came up with your on idea of who Eric really is.
If you could take a minute and let this comment sink in you may start to realize that just maybe you are wrong and Eric really may be an Outlaw in the country music business.
Before I state some facts I wanna say that if I’m trying to better myself or my ratings …or increase my album sales, I’m damn sure not gonna steal ideas from someone that isn’t even on my level yet..and probably will never be by the looks of Shooters last piece of work. If you were smart, you’d have realized by now why no one gets your point of the article. There isn’t a legit point to be made and it has confused everyone because none of us can see why you think Eric would want to copy Shooter.It would be differant if Shooters popularity and record sales were breaking records or if his music was dominating the charts.. but in reality it wouldn’t be in the best interests of the Church camp to copy a not so successful artist….would it???
Ok, so many other questions about your visions on this article that its senseless to ask you to explain your train of thoughts.
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that sees right thru you and can tell you have some kind of problem with Eric Church personally inside yourself. Go for it!
I’m just here to keep things 100%…keep it real…the truth.
I guess I should say that I was born and raised in the same county that Eric comes from in North Carolina and I grew up less than 10 miles from the Church family.
As a local I have witnessed Eric’s path to where he is now. Its a shame that he is just now getting some of the credit that he deserves as a true country music singer. He has taken the long road and has endured numerous setbacks in his career due to his rebellion to the music industries corrupt ways that can be compared to organized crime. He has stood his ground time after time and spoke out against the well oiled machine in Nashville. He has taken a backseat to many of the “cookie cutter” artists over the years because of his unwillingness to participate with the big wheels in Nashville. He cut his teeth playing for years in the honkytonks and bars located on the back roads thru out the south. He has a very special gift of writing and performing songs that the blue collar working man can relate to. His fanbase is solid and was built in these rough venues where some nights he didn’t make enough money for the beer tab.
He was recognized on a couple occasions and offered some big opportunities but because of his ” do it my way” attitude he was fired an black balled …and knocked back down outta the limelight. When he accepted a deal to open for Rascal Flatts, which was his biggest deal up to that point, he was fired after his first show opening for them at Madison Square Gardens. Why? Because they told him how long he could stay on stage and showed him where he could or couldn’t go on the stage and told him how loud he could play. So as not to take anything from the big act he was opening for. He wasn’t ready to follow the rules. He used whatever part of this stage he felt like using and cranked it up louder than he had been told not to do. He stayed on stage way longer than he was suppose to. He was fired right after coming off of the stage that night.That put a bad taste in the wrong peoples mouths and just about killed his career, so it’s was back to the bars for Eric and it wasn’t looking good. Then he came up with a song and recorded it even though he was advised that it wasn’t a good idea to do it. That song was “smoke a little smoke” That one gamble with that song is what turned everything around for Eric. It is defiantly the song that saved his career and boosted him to a level that he had never expierience.Sales skyrocketed and the fanbase for Eric grew night after night. That song made his popularity rise to the point that radio stations had to play it. Everyone loved that song.
I’ve seen Eric Church perform probably close to 100 times at county fairs, street festivals, campgrounds, bars and even private birthday parties. Not one time did he forget to bring up what he thought about the music industry during his show. He is true to his beliefs and stands up against those who try to control the type of music we hear everyday on the radio. He is for real and I know this to be a fact.
So now that you have written your article and stated non worthy comments and some time has passed, I wonder what you have to say now. The Outsiders was the 3rd best selling album in the world last year behind Beyounce and Frozen (movie title track) and it still wasn’t country music album of the year at any of the awards shows and even though Eric’s Outsiders tour was the highest grossing country music act last year and broke numerous attendance records in some big arenas across the country…he wasnt named Entertainer of the year at any of the awards shows. So say what you want about Eric Church…he don’t have to copy anyone. He is an Outlaw…and has been since day one. I’ve been there..I’ve witnessed his journey and heard him stand up against the machine that controls country radio. He don’t have to convince people of his outlaw persona…his fans know the truth and they are a loyal bunch.
Trigger you’re only hurting your on self with this bullshit bit of criticism. You seem like a rookie and not a very intelligent man when it comes to your job or career path.
I think you’re just jealous and hating on Eric for his success. If a common fact that when a person becomes successful at something others go to hating. Examples like the Dale Earnhardt…because of his success…he was hated by many who never even met him. The Dallas Cowboys same way.
One more little thing…what about Eric’s new C.D….Mr.Misunderstood…it was dropped to all of his fan club members for free as a gift a week before it ever went on sale to the general public and it was a surprise that no one seen coming. And the biggest thing I would just love to hear you explain is Eric’s timing on when the c.d. went on sale to the public. The album went in sale at 12:00 midnight less than an hour after the Country Music Awards show ended. I feel like he knew he was not gonna win an award for album of the year with “The Outsiders” on that night so as some kind of jester aimed toward Nashville he released the album right after the show and parked an Eric Church mobile store right in downtown Nashville and sold the very first copies right there in there face. Let’s hear your opinion on that!
Just remember…be careful what you say because people are watching.
WHO DID HE COPY THIS TIME?????
Lmfao!!!

I don’t think anyone has copyrighted ‘Outsider’. So if we allow for multiple parties to use that term, then I think it gets pretty limiting as far as the images, videos, memes, tropes, and whatever else marketing mumbo jumbo are used.

Set up a marketing team in a vacuum, with no knowledge of any preceding ‘Outsiders’, and I doubt they will come up with anything much different than either of these.

I challenge anyone else to come up with an original Outsider marketing campaign. I predict it gets pretty silly pretty quickly.

I wanted to chime in and say that Eric’s new album feels like he’s trying way, way too hard and succumbing to a marketing idea to be “bad”, and it’s transparently dumb. With cursing in his lyrics, sexually explicit themes, songs about pot, etc – all dumb.

Trigger,
you accuse people of being Eric’s marketing team because they make educated posts about MUSIC? That’s beyond paranoid, dude, and pretty egotistical.

Eric has stated multiple times that the references to “Outsider” pertain more to the journey he and his band took to get where they are now. Whether or not it was his own doing, they were outcasts for a while and felt like outsiders. You can argue this point until you’re blue in the face, and it won’t make you any more right. He doesn’t claim to be anymore an outsider than anyone else in country music right now as far as radio play and “being in” with the organizations that matter.

Saving Country Music has become big enough where reps for record labels are commonly on here posting comments, and I have confirmed this. Don’t know if that comment above was one of them, but it sure fits their formulaic “rah rah” approach, and the commenter hasn’t piped up yet to defend himself.

As for Eric Church feeling like an outsider, interesting piece I read the other day about Rascal Flatts saying they talked to Eric Church 4 times before firing him, and only did because it was costing them tons of money on labor overtime on union shows. Eric Church seems to want to identify himself as a victim and an outsider when the only person he seems to be fighting is himself.

I’m guessing that I’m the commentator that you were referring to that has not piped up yet. Main reason is that with work and life I haven’t had a chance to revisit and give my additional thoughts.

So here I go 🙂

First off, I’m not a marketeer for Church or a rep for any record label, even though I don’t doubt that you have encountered people like that. However, I do understand where you would think that by my initial “rah rah” post. After reading it a day later, I understand how you could have assumed that completely, so I’ll give ya that.

I’m just a country music (and music) fan in general. And while I completely understand many people’s view of Eric’s so called “outlaw” image (which I agree with to an extent), there is a good many of his tracks that I really like regardless of the image he pushes. I don’t think anyone (even fans of his) can honestly say that he is and “outsider”. If that were the case he wouldn’t be playing the iHeart deal in Texas, award shows, album of the year, etc. HOWEVER, just because he himself is an “insider” within the mainstream scene does not mean that his music (for the most part) is. When you stray away from his radio friendly singles and dig into some of his albums deeper cuts (Lightning being a personal favorite), you’ll find some stuff that is “outside” of the mainstream. That’s where I am able to let go of his “image” and enjoy those tracks for simply being great songs IMO.

I feel that of all the mainstream “country” acts, Eric, along with Zac Brown ( I bring up Zac because I hear some people yelling that he’s not “country” either), are the creme of the crop. Just how “country” they are is certainly up for debate, but in my view they are the two that immediately come to mind (as far as mainstream is concerned) that actually give two hoots about their albums as a whole body of work. I also like that they seem to be heavily involved in the writing and creative process of their music, as opposed to other acts that just show up to the studio and sing songs that some record executive has hand picked for them to try and score as many #1’s as they can. The fact that neither do that has to mean something??

I was very skeptical that Eric would put out another CHIEF record, due to its success and he not go any further with his music creatively, while at the same time possibly dabbling into the stuff I (and others) refer to as “bro country”. I’m not sure what you mean when you say it’s not a SCM term as I mostly read your album reviews in my search for good music that is not promoted by the mainstream establishment, so I may be out of the loop on that part. I’d love to understand why you think that term will not carry a negative connotation going forward. But, when I say “bro country”, I’m referring to the artists whose entire albums/singles refer trucks, girls, dirt road, corn fields, beers, painted on jeans, partying, etc. That is all the “country” I hear during my commutes to and from work during the occasional (and unfortunate) times that I leave my iPod at home in the rush (loaded with my recent discoveries of Brandy Clark, Jason Isbell, etc; all courtesy of this site 😉 ). And once I get to work, I can’t escape it from fellow co-workers that have their iHeartRadio’s going with a “today’s best country” stations.

With that said, I honestly hadn’t been keeping up with his latest release much at all, but when I saw that link to the stream I gave a few of the tracks a listen (Dark Side & Devil in particular because of their curious titles). It was after I gave those two a listen and started on “The Joint” that I was really liking what I was hearing and thus the “rah rah” post, which in retrospect, I’ll admit was a just a bit premature on my part. I was just really glad to hear that new waters being explored both sonically and lyrically on those first 3 I gave a listen to, that my post unfortunately came across in a “fanboy” manner, which was not my intent.

After giving the entire album a few listens, I feel that is a fairly solid effort. For the most part, it’s definable not country (at least in the traditional sense) but just because something is not “country” doesn’t mean its not good, and vice verse. While there are some songs on here that are just “Eh”, there are still a decent handful that I feel are really good and different. I’ll say this much, I’d rather hear any of the tracks on this album on the radio over 90% of the stuff I hear everyday. But that’s just me. To finish up I’ll echo a sentiment I saw voiced by another commentor.

Country music (and music in general) needs to be saved, but I don’t think it needs to be rescued from and Eric Church or a Zac Brown.

Thanks for the response and thoughts. I completely agree that just because something is not “country” doesn”™t mean its not good. I find my self making that point a lot as well.

And I also totally agree with you saying that Eric Church (and Zac Brown, incidentally) do offer a better alternative than most other popular mainstream male country artists, and this is a point I have made numerous times on this site.

For you and others, here’s some of my previous comments about Eric’s music:

““Creepin”™” isn”™t country, it”™s a rock song with some country-inspired elements. In parts it”™s driven by arena rock riffs, and the chorus comes across as a little obvious. Just because something is rock though doesn”™t mean it”™s wrong, it just means it is mischaracterized in the country format.

In the mainstream of a genre that has grown stale with laundry list cliche songs, gimmicky pop and country rap fare, and droning adult contemporary ballads, Eric Church and “Creepin”™” display bold, creative leadership. This song takes chances. There”™s few “sensibilities” here, no resorting to the easy avenues of country lyrics delivered in rap pentameters, or overt pop elements to draw a bigger crowd. Instead there is striking out in uncharted mainstream country territory.

“Eric Church deserves tremendous credit for creating an album that is this far off Music Row”™s well beaten path, and goes beyond the simple back and forth between love ballads and braggadocios laundry list songs. There is some laundry list elements here, and love songs, but there”™s a mess of songs that are neither. There”™s some boldness, some risk, and some innovation, and some roots. These are things that are just not supposed to happen on a project originating from Music Row. Eric Church might not be an Outlaw, but he is certainly being “new”.”

– – – – – – – –

However nothing about this post had really anything to do with any of that. It was unfortunate for this article that Eric’s album premier came out right when this article did, and so the two issues got confused, and sort of collided in misunderstanding.

This article reeks of paranoia. I think you’re reading too much into this. Artists often emulate marketing techniques of other artists if they are successful.

I don’t see the correlation between Shooter and Eric Church apart from the fact that anytime you use their names and photos on your front page you are sure to get 100 comments no matter the content of your article.

Why isn’t this being embraced at least on some level, because it is positive change in a stale genre? Wouldn’t it be worse if he released an album that fit more snugly into the constraints of pop country radio?

As far as the charge of posting articles like this simply to create traffic: First, comments do not always denote traffic. Second, this article has a long way to go to reach 100 comments, and is padded by people coming to give their opinion of the album due to the NPR stream instead of sharing their opinions about the topic at hand. Third, this article didn’t generate any more traffic than any other article posted recently, and likely won’t even be in the Top 10, or even Top 20 of most trafficked blogs this month. Fourth, luckily Saving Country Music enjoys enough organic traffic from archived material that there is absolutely no need to chase traffic numbers. I am extremely pleased, and profoundly humbled by the amount of people who come here every day, and it is not worth risking the integrity of the site posting an article that isn’t rooted in substance.

“Why isn”™t this being embraced at least on some level, because it is positive change in a stale genre?”

I’m tired of seeing this “Hey, at least it’s not bro country” comment. That’s addition by subtraction. Who cares how shitty everything else is, that’s not an excuse to make another less shitty album.

But again I’m seeing someone criticize this article thinking it is based on my tastes of Eric Church’s music. Eric Church may put out the best country album of all of 2014. That doesn’t mean his marketing team didn’t borrow ideas from Shooter Jennings.

I know there isn’t any point in arguing these points with you. You go out of your way to reply with as much information as possible, and I appreciate that, but you can’t even understand where I’m coming from. And, that seems crazy to me.

I’m not saying this album is great because it’s marginally better than other music played on clear channel. I never said anything about Bro-Country because that wasn’t even in my vocabulary until right now. My point is that Eric Church or Shooter Jennings could shit a golden turd, and you would still criticize the fuck out of it.

I think we should be embracing positive changes in the pop country culture instead of obsessing about the marketing being similar to someone else’s marketing. And, so what if he borrowed some marketing techniques. Is that what you’re saying the entire article is about? Eric Church borrows marketing techniques from Shooter Jennings? If so, I don’t know why this article exists.

I’ve never been a fan of Eric Church by any means, but I saw him play an outdoor show in Minneapolis probably 5 years ago or more. And, he was a very good performer. I had no idea who he was, it was before he got big, it was at a very small venue, and to me that says he was busy paying his dues.

I’ve written positive articles for both Eric Church and Shooter Jennings. I gave “Chief” 1 1/2 of 2 guns up. I gave Shooter’s “Outlaw You” two guns way up. I gave Eric Church’s “Homeboy” a positive grade, and same with Shooter’s collaboration with Patty Griffith.

” And, so what if he borrowed some marketing techniques. Is that what you”™re saying the entire article is about?”

Yes.

I agree that any measure of music with more creativity finding its way onto radio is a good thing, and if it finds its way through the vessel of Eric Church, excellent, and I’ve given him credit for this specific thing in the past. However, I also think that he looks to independent artists and borrows from what they’re doing in a way that comes across as disingenuous.

But at the end of the day, Eric music must be judged on its own merit, and that is what I’ll do. If it wasn’t for NPR posting their album stream an hour before I posted this article, it would have taken on a completely different flavor. Trust me. Eric’s new music would have still been a mystery, and people would have focused more on the topic at hand.

Trigger,
I specifically said in my post, “Whether or not it was his own doing, they were outsiders for awhile”….
Perhaps you didn’t read the personal email I sent you, but I’m aware of the situation with RF and have been since it happened 6 or so years ago. Back then I thought it was either the best or worst move they could have made.
Also, Eric hasn’t commented on it, but keep in mind that there are two sides to every story.
I agree that he put himself on the outside. Regardless of how they got there, they WERE outsiders, which is why they played blues, rock, and metal clubs for several years, doing 200+ shows per year. Country didn’t really much want anything to do with them, and I can understand that. His fans brought him back, along with some really radio-friendly cuts. Eric has been pretty open about the fact that he doesn’t consider himself an outsider now, but the outsider image is one they developed over the years that they were there, and the journey they had to take to earn their way back into mainstream favor.
You can keep saying over and over that Eric put himself there, but in doing so you’re avoiding the point I’m making, that the outsider image has been and is more about their overall journey to this point, not exclusively about where they are right now.

I’ve heard comments from friends about country music is not country anymore. Music changes with time. If country music from 70’s played on today’s radio, no one would listen. I like all kinds of music, regardless of genre. I love Eric Church’s new cd. I could put new cd on and listen to it on loop. I’m not familiar with Shooter Jennings music. It’s all in who you prefer to listen to and what you like.

I’ve been listening to the album stream this morning and there’s so much here…Certainly not boring and definitely more a rock album than anything he’s ever done. Seems like there’s a lot here that picks up where he left off with “creepin'”. Theres enough variety for me to know I will be picking it up next week, but as with all his previous albums, it’s going to have to grow on me.

Musically though, I find this album refreshing. Never have a problem with its songwriting merits. According to producer Jay Joyce, his rocker sensibility is helpful when making an Eric Church record while his songwriting sensibility is helpful when making the new Cage The Elephant record or Nicole Nordeman.

For what it’s worth, The Outsiders, as an album, is essentially 40-50 minutes of trying to fit square pegs in round holes. Eric fell into the trap that many artists do when they gain artistic freedom due to their success–he tried to do too much. Too many styles trying to blend, and too many influences locking horns on this album. “Cold One,” for example, has so much going on it’s just awkward. It’s still a fun album, but it doesn’t even come close to Sinners Like Me, Carolina, or Chief.

And because it needs to be said, while this album has some excellent instrumental arrangements, Eric sacrificed lyrical quality to an extreme. Aside from a few moments of introspection, this album lacks lyrical depth, and that just isn’t some EC normally brings to the table.

The Outsiders song sounds exactly like a Motley Crue song. There aint a damn thing country about it. I like some Motley Crue and if someone told me this was a new Crue song I would not doubt them.

This reminds me of how Hank 3 got all his artistic freedom and immediately released the shittiest albums of his career. To me this is Eric Church having all the freedom in the world to create an album he wants to create and it being a horribly misguided directionless mess of bullshit – trying to do too much.

Lets face it, not everyone is Waylon & Willie those guys knew what they were doing and thrived in an nonrestrictive environment. Most other people do need the suits or big labels telling them what to do because when left up to their own they get shit like this or Shooter’s concept album etc etc

Imagine if the big record labels gave freedom to turds like Jason Aldean or Luke Bryan – I think the result would be far worse then the crap we have from them now as hard as that is to imagine.

Just because you have an idea that you think is different it dont mean its good and it dont mean that the backers of these major labels should throw down their money to let you do what you want. Go independent and get recongized that way on your own laurels rather than thinking youre entitled to artistic freedom on a major label.

If Hank 3 played the Curb game and released proper country records like the first couple in his career instead of being so insistent on his crappy punk rock hellbilly thrash nonsense I think country music would be in much better shape – but by Hank 3 being such a loud mouth blowhard I think that turned off people from the industry of signing actual good real country acts in fear theyd want to put out the same kind of crap Hank 3 did and drag their label into some huge legal messes because they are mad at Daddy and want to be punk rockers.

Waylon & Willie played the Nashville game for 10 years before getting their big breaks and freedom. But guess what – those two had so much talent that those early RCA albums in the 60s they did were so fucking good and still stand up to this day – you cant mask talent like that no matter what.

When is Jamey Johnson releasing a new record – now that guy knows how to get it done….

I guess my point is if you are going to rebel, be an outlaw or an outsider and fight for artistic freedom and do things your own way in a major label environment – you better make sure your end product is fucking stellar and turns some heads in a good way and not leave any doubts.

Hank 3 should be the case study of how not to do it – those post-Curb records are embarrassing and makes you wonder if it was all him making those revered Curb records or if a lot of it had to do with the suits green lighting some things and blocking the others.

Hopefully this record falls flat so Eric will have no one to blame but himself when his brainchild flops and then he can go back quietly into the shadows and take inventory

Hey trigger. I don’t really care what image anyone is trying to convey, I just like the man’s music. Are you going to be doing an album review for The Outsiders? I’m curious as to what you think about it. I like the album a lot but I’m a huge EC fan.

Trigger, this is specifically for you. I was blown away at your album review for “The Outsiders”. I found it competely off the mark. After reading this today, I had to say something. It’s obvious you have a chip on your shoulder for EC. I personally love the music he puts out. I even dug the marketing for this album. However, marketing evolves and these two guys were not the only ones to bring a product to market like this. You will find thousands of product launches using YouTube and FB. I personally think you are using these articles for your own marketing to get people fired up one way or the other. I think you may be a poser yourself. EC is a great artist, songwriter and musician. Creative and energizing. Puts out songs that DON’T conform to the standard template of today’s country. Hmmm, think about that for a second. Looks like maybe he is an outsider. Or just following in the same traditions or Hank Jr, Steve Earle or Merle Haggard. All who are considered country.

Posting this article and my Eric Church review hurt savingcountrymusic.com, because there are Eric Church fans who would otherwise agree with the sentiments of this website, who will no longer read it because we can’t see eye to eye on Eric Church. However, I feel it is imperative to always give my opinion unfettered. I completely understand how as an Eric Church fan, these opinions my offend you or make you angry. But I’d rather make some folks angry, than lie and lose that integrity.